Neuroscience at Northeastern

5 Year Enrollment/retention/graduation Information

Information regarding graduation rate for Behavioral Neuroscience majors is not yet available for classes beginning in 2006. However, in the 5 years prior (i.e., between 2001-2005), the mean cohort size of the freshman class was 15 students. The freshmen retention rate was 89.2% on average and the 5 year graduation rate was a mean of 68.74%. From 2006-2010, considerable student interest in the BNS program was evident, as the size of the freshman class grew on an almost linear basis from 21 students in 2006 to 44 students in 2010. Between 2006-2009 the freshmen retention rate was stable at a mean of 88.4%.

Placement of BNS graduates

The ability of the BNS program to prepare students for higher degree granting programs in graduate or medical school and/or to qualify graduates for employment in a variety of fields from clinical and basic research laboratories and clinics to research assistant positions in a number of biotechnology fields is evident by the quantity and quality of placements of BNS graduates. Over the past 5 years, BNS graduates have gone on to attend medical school at such prestigious institutions as Yale, Stanford and Columbia Universities. Equally impressive are the universities that BNS graduates attend for graduate education and training, including Stanford, Harvard, Boston College, The University of California, San Diego, and the University of South Florida. In addition to attending institutes of higher education, BNS graduates find employment in research laboratories in top biotechnology firms including Genzyme, Biomedical Research Models, and the Forsythe Institute and in academic university laboratories at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, New England Medical Center, and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Other BNS students choose to pursue careers centered on educational outreach and find employment in such organizations as Teach for America and Americore.

BNS Program peers and aspirants

A web-based survey of potential BNS program peers and aspirants identified nine (9) other programs in Behavioral Neuroscience in the continental United States. The Director of each of the individual programs was contacted by phone to gather detailed registration data and curriculum information. Of those programs, data from seven (7) respondents plus Northeastern University are compiled in the following table.

University

Department

Program Type

Degree; Area

Year

Students

Courses

Andrews University

Psychology

Specialization/ Psych

BS; Psych.

2004

14

6

Barnard College

Psychology/ Biology

Joint Psych/ Biology

BS; BNS

2001

100

10

Connecticut College

Psychology/ Biology

Specialization/ Psych

BA; BNS

1996

33

3

E. Tenn. Univ.

Psychology

Specialization/ Psych

BS; Psych

N/A

N/A

3

Lehigh Univ.

Biological Sciences

Specialization/ Biol. Sci.

BA/BS; BNS

1992

85

5

Univ. Memphis

Psychology

Specialization/ Psych

BS; Psych

2004

5

5

Quinnipiac College

Psychology

Specialization/ Psych

BS; BNS

N/A

N/A

N/A

W. Wash. Univ.

Psychology/ Biology

Joint Psych/ Biology

BA; BNS

2008

30

5

Wright State Univ.

Psychology

Specialization/ Psych

BS; Psych

2008

27

9

Northeastern University

Psychology/ Biology

Joint Psych/ Biology

BS; BNS

1993

324

12

As seen in the table, the BNS program at Northeastern University is one of the longest running undergraduate BNS programs in the U.S. In addition, it is also the largest BNS program in the U.S. with over three times the number of undergraduate registrants than its’ closest peer. This clearly can be used as a strong indicator of the high level of student interest in BNS at Northeastern University. Next, from a more detailed programmatic standpoint, the BNS program at Northeastern University offers a greater number and a more diverse array of BNS specialty courses than it’s peers. For example, the BNS program at Northeastern University is the only undergraduate BNS major to offer advanced specialty courses in Clinical Neuroscience, Neuroethology, Comparative Neurobiology, Computational Neuroscience and Functional Human Neuroanatomy. These courses help set our program apart from our peers.